There is a fascinating history to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just across the dividing line from nearby Thailand, in which gambling den betting is not legal. Eight gambling halls are established in a relatively tiny area in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia casinos is in an excellent area, a three to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal capital accrued from the gambling dens ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million, and there are a few limitations constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is required to be largely Thai; although, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 1700, and despite the fact visas are for all intents and purposes required to cross, there are ways around this, as is true of most border crossings.
The original Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just 1 gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked barge gambling hall, contains one hundred and fifty slot machines and sixty gaming tables. The Naga gambling den never closes with 42 tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of blackjack, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon opened. A total of 150 slots and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machines and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 slots and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and 96 gaming tables, including 87 punto banco (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and 66 of the normal table games, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 one armed bandits and ninety seven games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a multinational vacation and hotel building that features a number of luxuries aside from the casino, which houses ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and eighty eight tables.